Developing gene therapies for rare diseases is one thing. Creating gene-edited “designer babies” is quite another. German legal expert Timo Minssen outlined the potentially explosive ethical landmines surrounding such issues during a recent talk at the New York Genome Center. Minssen directs the Center for Advanced Studies in…
The case of a Gaucher disease patient who received a lung transplant to treat pulmonary hypertension calls into question assumptions about how Gaucher affects blood pressure in the lungs, researchers say. Titled “Lessons from lung transplantation: Cause for redefining the pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension in…
Treatment with Cerezyme (imiglucerase), Sanofi Genzyme‘s enzyme replacement therapy, can effectively reverse severe pulmonary and liver complications triggered by Gaucher disease, a case report suggests. The study “Reversal of life-threatening hepatopulmonary syndrome in Gaucher disease by imiglucerase enzyme replacement therapy” was published in…
Imagine living your whole life with a painful disease so rare that only 25 others worldwide have what you have. And that you’re one of just six such people who’ve made it to adulthood. Neena Nizar doesn’t have to imagine. The 41-year-old English professor at Metro Community College in Elkhorn,…
A new mutation, H413P, that may be associated with severe symptoms was discovered in a Chinese baby with perinatal lethal Gaucher disease, a case report suggests. The report, “A Neonatal Case With Perinatal Lethal Gaucher Disease Associated With Missense G234E and H413P Heterozygous Mutations,” appeared…
A €1.4 million grant from the Eurostars-2 program, with funding from others, will support Gain Therapeutics and its partners in developing treatment candidates for Gaucher disease, Parkinson’s, and GM1 gangliosidosis. The grant, worth about $1.57 million, supports ongoing research by Gain and its collaborators  Maurizio Molinari,…
Gaucher disease is among the more costly of chronic diseases to treat in Iran, and efforts are needed to minimize the financial burden facing patients and health authorities in the country, researchers say. Findings of their study, “Healthcare resource utilization and cost of care for Gaucher patients in…
When school psychologist Wayne Rosenfield was 5 years old, he had an enlarged spleen. Doctors in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, brushed it off, telling his parents: “He’s just a kid with a larger than normal spleen.” Later, when the boy complained of nosebleeds, their advice: “Tell him to keep…
Oklahoma suffers more tornadoes than any other state, has the highest per-capita rate of women in U.S. prisons, ranks second in the number of teen births per 100,000 teenage girls, and has the nation’s third-highest rate of uninsured residents — with 13.9% of all Oklahomans lacking health coverage. As if…
Screening newborns for genetic diseases with treatments that can prevent crippling or deadly progression, especially for rare disorders, has a ways to go in the United States. No state today tests for all 35 disorders recommended under a federal screening panel, and even in those that come close, rare…
